Mountaineers sign Amsterdam's Angelo

The pipeline from area baseball teams to Southern Vermont College is as strong as ever.

Amsterdam High School pitcher Dylan Angelo is the latest local athlete to make the move to SVC. The senior committed to the college this past week.

"I sent in my deposit and everything," said an excited Angelo, Sunday.

The right-handed pitcher -- this spring, Angelo went 4-3 with a 3.39 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 43 1-3 innings of work -- is the latest local product to head to SVC, where the head coach is Broadalbin-Perth graduate Dave Gage and AHS graduate Robby Hisert is an assistant. This past spring, the Mountaineers' roster included nine former Section II athletes, including Amsterdam's Kurt Kowalczyk and B-P's Owen Chizek and R.J. Pingitore.

"Any guy that we can get from Section II, we think he can be a real strong competitor for us," Hisert said Monday.

Hisert helped coach Angelo in his junior and sophomore seasons at AHS. Angelo said Hisert's presence at SVC was a major contributing factor in his decision to head to the school.

"The big thing with him is that he's always honest with me," said Angelo. "He always tells me what I need to fix, what I'm doing wrong, and he never holds anything back."

Brian Spagnola, Angelo's coach this past spring at AHS, said he thinks that the right-hander will take well to the college game. The coach said that Angelo had some mechanical issues to work out for the next level, but the time with college coaches working in bullpen sessions -- of which, few ever get thrown in high school -- would help him show off his talents.

"He's got the potential to get better," said Spagnola. "He's got upside. ... He's got the ability to get better, there's no question about that."

Spagnola said the most important thing for Angelo is to always bring swagger to the mound.

"There were a few games this year where, to quote Rocky, he had the eye of the tiger," said Spagnola. "You could see he wasn't going to get hit those days."

SVC is a program in the building stages, as the club went 11-24 this past spring. The situation should give Angelo a chance to step in immediately and contribute.

"I think he saw ... that we're a growing program and he wanted to be a part of it," Hisert said.

Angelo said he plans to study criminal justice.

"I'm hoping to do something in that type of field," said Angelo. "I don't really know what yet, but I know [the subject] is interesting and it caught my eye."